It is known in the prior art to install in an aperture in a vehicle roof a movable panel having its front edge attached to a roof frame framing the aperture through detachable hinge components and its rear edge through a detachable deploying mechanism. In the known installation the detachable hinge components consist in each case of an elastic sleeve inserted in a slotted hole in the roof frame, and of a substantially flat hinge tongue assembled therein, the end of the tongue being bent upwards and the tongue being attached to the panel. The axis of pivot of these hinge components here extend substantially along the edges, rounded off by the elastic sleeve, of the slotted holes in the roof frame. The detachable deploying mechanism here consists of two lateral lever arrangements in which the pivot pins, in each case axially connected to deploying levers, are designed for axial dismantlement.
The known vehicle roof exhibits two critical drawbacks:
The known detachable hinge components cannot prevent twisting of the panel during the deploying action, particularly if the two lateral lever arrangements do not operate uniformly, so that twisting and cross-binding can give rise to faulty operation. Moreover, because of the position of the axis of pivot, which is in front of but below the forward edge of the panel, the deploying motion of the panel gives rise to a slight shift forward on the part of the forward edge. As a result, during the opening motion the panel is pressed harder against the sealing strip surrounding it giving rise to increased sealing strip deformation. During the closing motion, the panel edge retreats from the sealing strip with the result that leaks can develop in the zone where the strip has undergone severe deformation.
In this context, the pivot pins of the two detachable lateral pair of deploying levers must, during detachment of the panel, be removed by two successive manipulations performed with one hand, or by two simultaneous manipulations performed by both hands. It is only when this has been done that the panel can be gripped with both hands and lifted out of the roof aperture. The removal of the panel from the roof aperture is therefore a relatively laborous and difficult operation. Moreover, it is still more difficult, after the panel has been placed in the roof aperture, to insert the two pivot pins for the two detachable lateral pairs of deploying levers in such a way that the said lever pairs are connected together.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to so improve a vehicle roof of the kind above described, that while having a simple structure, it will operate reliably and can be quickly and easily detached. and fitted.